There are many industries where cooling may be desirous or required. Some of these industries require precise control of cooling. Others require cooling that is un-interrupted and does not stop in case of power failure, for example. Some of these industries include but are not limited to: telecommunications, medical industry, precise manufacturing and the like. Same problems exist for companies who maintain computer equipment (such as servers or the like). As the number of equipment co-located in a given dwelling grows, the equipment heats up fast and requires continuous cooling for un-interrupted operations.
It is known in the art to use stationary or mobile air-conditioning units that allow for precise temperature control. Naturally, all of this equipment requires power supply in order to operate. There have been some attempts in the art to address the problems associated with back-up power and/or alternative cooling sources, especially for those industries where continuous cooling is a critical parameter for operational stability. For companies who operate computer equipment and/or servers, the uninterrupted cooling of computer equipment and/or servers can be a critical operational parameter to ensure uninterrupted data processing and integrity of the computing equipment and/or servers.
US patent application US2007/0132317 discloses, for example, power system that serves as a source of dedicated back-up power for a cooling system. The power system utilizes a plurality of fuel cells, which produce direct current (DC) power. A conversion device, such as an inverter, is used to convert the DC into alternating current (AC) for powering the cooling system. A transfer switch connects the AC power from the inverter to the cooling system. The position of the transfer switch determines the source of AC power for the cooling system.
US patent application 2010/0170663 teaches a backup cooling storage system, which comprises at least one cooling and storage unit configured to cool a liquid supply using a quantity of cooled material when a main chiller of the liquid supply is not operational, and at least one chilling element configured to generate the quantity of cooled material for the at least one cooling and storage unit when the main chiller of the liquid supply is operational. Additional embodiments and methods are further disclosed.